There’s a moment in every designer’s life when a client says:
“We’re just putting together a little newsletter.”
And you know, deep down, that it’s going to be 24 pages, 17 contributors, 43 photographs, three infographics, a foreword from the CEO, an interview that’s currently 2,000 words over length… and it needs to be at the printers on Friday.
We’ve all been there.
The good news is that producing a great newsletter or magazine doesn’t have to be complicated. But it does help enormously if your designer knows what they’re actually designing before they start designing it.
A good brief isn’t about tying the designer’s hands. Quite the opposite. It gives them the information they need to come up with something that works creatively, practically and for the people who are actually going to read it.
So, if you’re commissioning a newsletter, magazine, annual review or similar publication, here are a few things worth thinking about.
First things first: what’s the point?
Before deciding whether it’s A4, A5, portrait, landscape or something wonderfully square, ask yourself:
What do we want this publication to achieve?
Is it about informing members? Sharing news? Celebrating achievements? Raising awareness? Building credibility? Showing impact? Keeping customers engaged?
Or perhaps a combination of all of the above. There isn’t a wrong answer. But your designer needs to know.
“It’s our annual magazine” tells us what it is. “We want members to feel informed, valued and connected to what we’re doing” tells us why it exists. And that’s much more useful.
Who’s actually going to read it?
“Everyone” is tempting.
It is also one of those answers that makes a designer quietly stare into the middle distance. Think about your audience. What do they know? What do they care about? Are they likely to sit down with a cup of tea and read 16 pages, or flick through it while waiting for a train?
Age, accessibility, familiarity with your subject matter and how the publication will be consumed can all influence the design. The best editorial design isn’t simply attractive. It makes the information easier to navigate and understand.
Content. Content. And, just occasionally, more content.
This is probably the most useful thing you can give your designer. Not necessarily finished copy. Not necessarily beautifully polished copy. Just a realistic idea of what is going on the pages.
Something as simple as:
- Cover story – 800 words
- Chair’s introduction – 500 words
- Three member stories – 600 words each
- News snippets – 100 words each
- Case study – 1,000 words
- Statistics/infographic
- Events
- Back-page feature
…is enormously helpful.
Because “we’ve got an article” doesn’t tell a designer whether they’re dealing with 150 words or 1,500. And those two things require rather different amounts of page.
Then there are the pictures…
Good photography can transform an editorial publication.
It can also completely dictate a layout. So let your designer know what imagery exists, what is still to come and whether there are any restrictions around its use.
Professional photography? Great.
Stock imagery? Fine.
Phone photographs from six different people in six different lighting conditions? Also fine — but probably worth discussing.
And please, if something is intended for print, don’t assume that because an image looks fabulous on your screen it will necessarily look fabulous at 300mm wide on paper. Screen size and print quality are not the same thing. Neither, unfortunately, is “I found it on Google” and “we have permission to use it”. If image credits, copyright or permissions apply, flag them early. Your designer will love you for it.
Tell us how you want it to feel
This is the bit where things get interesting.
A brief doesn’t need to dictate the design. In fact, we’d much rather you didn’t.
Instead of: “Put the photograph on the left and the text on the right.”
Try: “We’d like this to feel energetic, contemporary and people-focused.”
Or: “We want it to feel authoritative, but not stuffy.”
Or even: “We really don’t want it to look like a corporate report.”
That’s useful.
If you’ve seen publications you love, show them to your designer. And tell them what you like about them. Is it the typography? The photography? The use of colour? The amount of white space? The way the pages flow? Equally, if there’s something you absolutely hate, say so.
“Please don’t make it look like a PowerPoint presentation” is perfectly valid creative direction.
A magazine shouldn’t look like a spreadsheet
One of the biggest advantages of working with an experienced editorial designer is understanding rhythm.
Every page doesn’t need to look the same. In fact, it probably shouldn’t.
A long interview might benefit from a relatively calm, typographic layout. A case study might use a big photograph and a pull quote. A page of statistics could become something much more visual. A short news section might work beautifully as a series of quick-fire items.
Think of the publication as a whole rather than a collection of individual pages. There should be a visual language running through it, but there should also be some movement and surprise. Otherwise you risk creating 16 pages of beautifully aligned boxes. And nobody ever said, “I can’t wait to read that beautifully aligned box.”
Print, digital… or both?
This is worth deciding at the beginning.
A publication designed for print needs to consider things such as:
- Finished size
- Page count
- Paper
- Binding
- Colour
- Bleed
- Print quantity
- Distribution
A digital version brings another set of considerations:
- PDF or online publication?
- Clickable links?
- Accessibility?
- File size?
- Screen readability?
- Mobile viewing?
If you’re producing both, tell your designer. It may affect how the publication is designed and how the final artwork is prepared.
The boring bits that aren’t actually boring
There are a few practical details that can make a surprisingly big difference.
When does it need to be finished? Not “when can you get it done?” When does the final artwork need to be with the printer? And when does the printer need it? Then work backwards.
Also think about:
- Who is supplying the content?
- Who is supplying the photography?
- Who signs off the design?
- Who signs off the copy?
- How many rounds of amends are expected?
- Has a printer been appointed?
- Is there a production budget?
These things might not sound particularly creative. They are, however, the things that stop creative projects becoming slightly less creative towards the end.
And finally… please don’t hide the important stuff
If there are brand guidelines, accessibility requirements, legal considerations, mandatory wording, logos, sponsor requirements or anything else that absolutely must appear, put it in the brief.
Not three days before artwork is due. Not when the designer is just about to send the final PDF. And definitely not with “Oh, one other thing…” Those four words have caused more last-minute layout changes than almost anything else.
So, what does a good brief actually look like?
It doesn’t need to be a 20-page document. In fact, a one-page brief can be brilliant.
Just cover the essentials:
- THE WHY: What is the publication trying to achieve?
- THE WHO: Who is reading it?
- THE WHAT: What content needs to be included?
- THE HOW MUCH: Approximate word counts, images and page requirements.
- THE FEEL: What should it look and feel like?
- THE WHERE: Print, digital or both?
- THE WHEN: Content deadline, design stages, approval and final artwork.
- THE WHO AGAIN: Who is responsible for supplying content and who has final sign-off?
- THE MONEY: What’s the design and production budget?
- And then there’s one final ingredient: THE TRUST.
Give your designer the problem rather than the solution.
Tell them what you want to achieve, who you’re talking to and what the parameters are. Then let them do what you’ve commissioned them to do. Because a good newsletter or magazine isn’t simply a container for information. It’s an experience.
It should have a beginning, a middle and an end. It should have pace. It should make complicated things easier to understand. It should give photography room to breathe. It should occasionally surprise you.
And most importantly, it should make you want to turn the page.
That’s the bit we’re aiming for.